Book recommendations from the creators of Unshelved® and their friends.
Learn who we are, how we pick books, and which books we've featured.
Book recommendations from the creators of Unshelved® and their friends.
Learn who we are, how we pick books, and which books we've featured.
I write Unshelved with Bill Barnes. I've worked as a paper boy, auto mechanic, courier, English teacher, operations manager, teen services librarian, and staff development coordinator. I enjoy a wide range of graphic novels and am currently obsessed with the work of Lewis Trondheim, Emmanuel Guibert, Hope Larson, and Kazu Kibuishi. My favorite book without words is Owly: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer by Andy Runton. My favorite book without pictures is Ursula LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea.
I'm the artist of Unshelved and write Not Invented Here. I mostly read sci-fi, history, biography, science, and mainstream comics. Whenever went wrong in the past and resulted in an alternate dystopian present, I'm a happy man. I have a small bookcase of favorite books that I re-read every year or two.
Flemtastic grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He frequently made his friends wait to play until he finished the latest Hardy Boys book. The public librarians he trafficked with often had to remind him that he had already checked out the maximum number of books. His path was clear, so he studied English at the University of Washington and then taught high school for 12 years. Faced with reading student essays until retirement, he completed a library certificate. He now works as a school librarian and gets to read good books every day.
He has lives just outside Seattle in the same neighborhood as his parents and sister. He wrangles time out of his intense parenting schedule (4 kids) to golf, play hoops and read. He has an understanding wife who he snagged before his hair loss became epic.
He especially enjoys fantasy novels, though he was caught in the faculty room reading How to Hook a Hottie. He has yet to live that down.
He likes Mexican food, cheap golf courses, thrift stores, Ebay, and driving his convertible with the top down for four days every year. He does not yet have a man cave, but after his kids move out, he is taking over a room with a giant flat screen TV, Barcalounger, and mini-fridge.
I'm Gene Ambaum's wife. Yes, that's my real name. I'm a physical therapist. I love Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise, Yotsuba&!, Bone, and manhwa. I prefer audio books, so I don't have to choose exercising over reading. I've written fan letters to Clint Eastwood and Ursula K. LeGuin.
I've been reading books for young people my whole life because they have the best writing. I frequently booktalk to parents, teachers, librarians and students. I love watching them light up when they hear about a book they MUST READ. I am getting my Masters in Education and Children's Literature and serve on the ALA Committee for Notable Children's Recordings. I have two daughters, 13 and 16, who make sure I don't miss any good books, and who agree with me that Twilight is a badly written bodice ripper.
I'm eight. I like armadillos, comics, and video games. When I grow up I want to be a zoo keeper.
(Gigi is Gene Ambaum's daughter. That's not her real name either.)
I'm ten. I like comics, Star Wars, Bionicles, and Legos. I'm a homeschooler and a Webelos. My daddy is Bill Barnes.
I'm seven. I like dogs and music. I'm a homeschooler and a Daisy. My daddy is Bill Barnes.
I am a second-generation teen services librarian. I've been reading avidly my whole life, but my professional reading focus is on books for the non-reader, since that gives me an excuse to read and recommend books involving poop and boogers. I enjoy nonfiction, especially books on science, history, and weirdness. The television episode that made me cry: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Body, made me scream: Dr Who, Blink, made me laugh until it hurt: Black Books, The Big Lock Out. I also review for Forced Perspective .
I’ve been told that my personality is like a butterfly, flitting from interest to interest without staying very long on any one thing. That has definitely been true in regards to my reading habits... over the years I’ve never stuck with any specific genre or type of book. I like any book that presents a unique character and/or situation, any book that can draw me in so deeply that I stop feeling the passage of time. I live in Colorado and keep as many library cards as can fit in my wallet.
I'm a recovering YA lit addict who has moved on to "grown up" thrillers and mysteries, preferably unabridged audiobook versions. My favorite brain-candy flavors include stories about extreme cold weather survival, books set in places I've visited on vacation, dystopias, attractive European authors, and books with one-word titles. I've also discovered a taste for forensic stories--I blame my husband, Carl, a pathologist who overshares when he gets home from work.
I come from readers. When I was younger, my parents were convinced that I must have been switched at birth as reading held no interest for me. It turns out that it was a matter of finding the right book to whet my appetite. In my case it was The Ghost in the Attic by Emily Cates, and I was hooked. Reading has become something of a compulsion. I feel itchy if I don't have a good book at my finger tips. I love the classics, but draw equal pleasure from chick lit and sci-fi/fantasy. Reading is both a form of escapism for me as well as a path to self- reflection. I love being drawn into a different world, watching characters grow, and discovering something about myself along the way.
I grew up in the beautiful Northwest. In between extreme bike races I could usually be found glued to a book. From Mad Scientist Club, Robinson Crusoe, The Chronicles of Narnia I drifted to Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Hunt For Red October and The Stand plus the magical world of Harry Potter. My passion for reading has taken me from the depths of the sea to alternative universes. I blame my book addiction on my parents and all the great librarians I've known. Nowadays I happily spend time with my wife in sunny Southern California -- we explore the world together through movies, travel, zip-lines, exotic BBQ recipe's and of course, books!
Currently I am the homeschooling mother of 2 children. My obsessive reading spurts tend to focus on nutrition, parenting, fitness, optimal education, sleep, adoption, understanding racism/white privilege and dogs. At this moment much of my free time is spent learning about attachment and bonding. Oh, and I love all things self-help.
Summer vacation growing up for my family was 10 days at the old family homestead complete with hand pumped water, rattlesnake infested hikes, driving the old Ford tractor, use of the outhouse, major amounts of roasted marshmallows and armfuls of books from the tiny library hosted in a tiny house in the tiny Wyoming town 20 miles away.
My degree is in French Language and Literature, and I once thought it would be a good idea to have a Masters in Medieval French Literature. The Count of Monte Cristo, Little Women, The Promise of Sleep and Usagi Yojimbo are some of my favorite books.
I take pride in the fact that I'm the person that introduced Gene (a buddy from post-college years) to Bill (my hubby).
I've been a librarian since 1997, but working in libraries since 1990, and before that was a teen volunteer for 5 years. I've written down every book I've read since middle school, but unfortunately don't have them all in accessible formats any more. I love graphic novels, innovative teen fiction, science fiction, poetry and stimulating adult non-fiction (especially if it is available on audiobook...I'd go crazy on my commute without them). My guilty pleasure reading includes steampunk werewolf romances, books featuring French Bulldogs, and anything with really excellent food descriptions. I also write a book blog.
I grew up in West Seattle with a fabulous old public library down the street. I have been a JHS teacher-librarian for twenty-six years and, even with all the technology and changes, the books still rule. I love it when a student comes in with, “That was the best book – ever!” There is so much fantastic YA writing going on, it seems like each new book I read becomes my best book – ever!
My mom says that I taught myself how to read as a toddler so that I would have something to do other than sleep when she forced me to stay in bed at night. I became a librarian because my other career options -— the military (I’m a Navy brat), dance (I studied ballet and modern for almost 25 years), and theatre (I toyed with being a stage manager) —- would cut into my valuable book hording time. I read mostly teen fiction and graphic novels (partially for work and partially because I love them), but I also like romance novels and nonfiction.
After 14 years as a teen librarian, I am starting a new career as the world’s slowest writer. In addition to working on a nonfiction series for teens, I’m a book reviewer for multiple sources, including Booklist and Good Comics for Kids. In my spare time I force my non-nerd husband to watch Star Trek and other sci-fi shows, start and never finish craft projects, and read way too much slash fanfiction. And, to quote Silver, “Yes, that is my real name.”
I rarely meet a fantasy novel I don’t like. In fact, I always have a stack of books that I’m waiting to read and most of them have some sort of fantasy or magical element to them. I also like to write. It probably won’t surprise you to know that my stories are fantasy, too. I love animals and the wolf is my favorite. While there aren’t any wolves nearby, I am training my husky to do agility. When the neighborhood coyotes are in full chorus, and Kenai tips her nose to the sky to howl along with them, it seems her wolf spirit is still strong. I love that eerie, primitive sound. My kitten, Alice, is usually right with me wherever I am. We live right on the beach, so I spend a lot of time outside surrounded by deer, coyote, otter, birds and seal. What else about me? I am twelve years old. Outside of school, I like to swim and draw.
When I turn the pages of a book, I expect to discover something between the black lettering that strikes me. I want to see the pale yellow leaf drifting on a gust of air, forgotten in the passing of one season into the other. I want to feel the flare of pain when the character’s bread knife slips, and I want to taste the chilly morning air on his or her tongue. Further than that, even, I want to feel the ache of a broken heart or the feeling of contentment after the character has forged his or her first sword. Someway, somehow, I want the story to affect me. No matter whether I am touched by the action, interaction, description, or complexities, this is what I look for in a book. I simply put down a book that does not satisfy that requirement.
I am sixteen years old and the focal point of my attention is placed upon the fantasy novel that I am in the process of writing. I have read extensively into both the fantasy and Sci-fi genres, but there has been a spattering of historical fiction, romance, and contemporary fiction to add diversity.
When I am not writing or reading, I am occupied with my pursuit of a Bachelor’s degree in English. Currently, this manifests itself in the taking of community college courses that will eventually evolve into my associate’s degree.